UEFA is facing a claim for more than €20million (£17.5m; $23m) after Chilean sports consultancy MatchVision filed a lawsuit against the governing body for its alleged theft of the league-phase format it has used for its men’s club competitions since 2024.
MatchVision started the action in April by filing documents in Spain, where the case was initially assigned to one of Madrid’s commercial courts, the same court that this week rejected an appeal from UEFA in the long-running European Super League (ESL) saga.
However, in September, MatchVision’s case was transferred to a court in Lausanne, Switzerland, where UEFA is based. The governing body has not yet been formally notified of the action but once it is, UEFA will have 20 business days to respond.
There is a connection with the ESL case, as it was that breakaway threat in 2021 that prompted UEFA to accelerate plans to revamp the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League, with the result being an expansion from 32 to 36 teams and the replacement of the group stage with a league format.
Commonly known as the “Swiss model”, as it is loosely based on a format of that name used in chess, it involves all 36 teams being ranked in one league table with each team playing eight different opponents, four at home, four away.
Unlike real Swiss-model tournaments, where fixtures are drawn after each round of games, with winners playing winners, UEFA’s fixtures are drawn once, at the beginning, with each side playing two teams from four seeded nine-team pots.
This, according to Matchvision, is the “pots” concept its founder Leandro Shara copyrighted in Chile in 2006. The company also claims it presented the idea to UEFA in 2013 and at several sports conferences in the following years. It says its idea has been used in several countries and world governing body FIFA has recognised it as MatchVision’s intellectual property.
Real Madrid’s Bernabeu during their league-phase win against Juventus this month (David S Bustamante/Real Madrid via Getty Images)
Shara first threatened UEFA with legal action on the eve of the draw for the 2024-25 Champions League, 14 months ago, and now says he has been left with no choice but to sue for damages.
Matchvision’s claim is for exactly €20,005,551, while Shara is also seeking €200,000 personally. They are also asking for interest on these sums for last season, this season and next season, which suggests they are not expecting UEFA to cave into their demands.
In a statement released to The Athletic, Shara describes himself as a “creator of mathematical algorithms applied in various industries, especially in sports”. He says one of these algorithms is the basis of the pots format and has been copyrighted and recognised as his.
He continues by claiming credit for the high-scoring rates seen in the revamped Champions League and accuses UEFA of trying to “disconnect this system from its creator” by calling it different names over the last few years, a ruse Shara says has not “changed the facts”.
“This misappropriation of intellectual property, made public during the official draw in August 2024, compels us to take action,” says Shara, before threatening to widen the legal action to include anyone who “knowingly has facilitated this infringement”.
The statement concludes by stating MatchVision has “technical studies, registrations and testimonies” to support its claims, and demands “recognition of authorship” and the payment of damages.
UEFA has not yet responded to The Athletic’s request for comment on the Madrid court filing but when Shara sent them his cease-and-desist letter last year, a spokesperson said: “The claims made by MatchVision are baseless at best, and are just another entry on a list of similar actions. UEFA will defend its position, though it is hardly the effort.”
